Tales of Pieces
by Black-Lyra
Summary: A collection of random pairings courtesy of a random generator. May include Romantic, Platonic, or Familial groupings. Due to angsting ability, one may find the occasional One-sided or Unrequited pairing as well. Practice. No explicit content. Newest pairing: Collette/Presea
1. For You to Be Happy: ZS some LS

_**Tales of Pieces**_

_**Summary: **__A collection of random pairings courtesy of a random generator. May include Romantic, Platonic, or Familial groupings. Due to angsting ability, one may find the occasional One-sided or Unrequited pairing as well. Practice. No explicit content._

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_(A/N): A project created to cure me of my complete inability to write anything resembling love, using the ToS cast as the unfortunate test subjects. _

_Due to randomness, pairings may not reflect my personal preferences. Any instances of same-sex pairings will be light and kept non-explicit; of course the latter of which applies to most other groupings as well. I will not promise lack of violence or bad language however, which may cause an M-rating. _

_Please remember! I do not own Tales of Symphonia or any characters mentioned therein._

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_**#1. For you to be Happy**_

_Zelos/Sheena with some mentions of Sheena/Lloyd, Zelos POV_

Implied Canonical—Takes dialogue right out of the Game

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Of course he cared about her; it was just hard to see it sometimes.

Zelos kept his affections on the sidelines, presenting the faux yet convincing remarks they all knew and (didn't really) loved, but his real opinions and connections always remained to be buried a little deeper. Because as much as the red-haired Chosen pretended to act under his guise of easily played vanity and physical desires, he still managed to hold a special soft spot for a certain Mizuhoan clumsy ninja who he verbally provoked at almost every opportunity.

Still, he was held back by something that mere willpower couldn't overcome: distrust.

Zelos didn't trust the foolhardy band he was currently traveling around with and hell if they trusted him (and he still couldn't—wouldn't—believe it when the ever-oblivious Lloyd had to open his mouth and claim the opposite). And if he finally went through with his still-developing plan, then any bond he managed to form with Sheena would only end up shattering her heart to pieces. Really, her emotions were a lot more fragile than the girl liked to believe.

Sheena was sweet (admittedly he tended to forget this when she was busy beating on him), and the thought that she could have cold-bloodedly murdered the Chosen of Regeneration (i.e. Little Angel Collette the eternal queen of innocent love and mercy) sounded odd, if not ludicrous. Well, he'd known her for a great deal longer than the rest of the team, so he was pretty certain of her personality by now. He could've easily avoided making her angry, but chose not to. Zelos was only glad that Sylvarant's Chosen hadn't been some maniacal church-brainwashed crazy who would just kill their strange assassin and continue on their merry way.

Or maybe he had Lloyd to thank, again dammit! He didn't know, he wasn't there! Though from the sound of what the others had told him, the beautiful Professor and Arrogant Bastard Angel had everyone _but _Lloyd in some kind of stranglehold of control for the first part of the journey.

Either way, Sheena had eventually joined up with them, without being murdered or murdering thankfully. And Zelos got to have his own reunion with her later too... Though that was...in Sybak, in the underground prison. Nice.

He was a bit surprised, but not really altogether upset when he learned of the ninja's growing attachment to their clueless leader. In fact, if anything, it made the idea of forcefully parting from this band easier to take. After all, Zelos the Annoyance to the Party could become Zelos the Traitor and Sheena would have someone to rely on in the end to weather the change. It was better that way.

Maybe he could hit two birds with one stone and give Lloyd a push in the direction of being "somewhat less of a prude." Maybe.

Everyone would be happier that probably.

Well, except for Zelos but, he wasn't really counting on that being an option in the first place.

So when the Vice-Chief of Mizuho informed the group that the only option of continuing onward was to form a pact with the Summon Spirit Volt, Sheena broke down and needed someone there to comfort her and convince her to inspire her to keep going. What happened last time she took on this challenge was destructive and tragic, but there was no avoiding it.

Zelos could have gone to her himself, but he refused to. He wouldn't open himself up like that. He wouldn't risk letting her get too attached to him, not with what he was secretly doing and plotting to do in the future. So he pulled Lloyd aside instead and encouraged the boy to follow her.

"It's a pretty famous incident. A quarter of Mizuho's population died. She puts on a strong face, but she's really alone in this village. Go cheer her up, man. She seems to have a thing for you." Lloyd's normally innocent face took on a more serious and pained expression and he nodded in understanding. Of course, he took on the burden of what happened to his hometown, didn't he? Zelos managed a weak, but genuine smile and patted his shoulder as he headed off to where the girl crouched with her small foxlike spirit.

He waited, watching on the outskirts until the light returned to Sheena's eyes and headed back inside the Chief's abode, his mission fulfilled. Maybe he had thrust himself outside of her affections and done it intentionally no less, but if the twin swordsman could make her happy and help her to forget the traitor, then it was all worth it.

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_(A/N): Its official, now that I've done it once, anytime I use Zelos' POV, I will never have him refer to Kratos by name._


	2. You're Not Alone: CP

_**Tales of Pieces**_

_(A/N): This one was a little odd to write, but the idea behind it isn't half bad if you keep an open mind. I did promise myself I wouldn't be too picky about what randomness gives me._

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_**#2. You're not Alone**_

_Collette/Presea_

Intended to be Platonic, but you may see hints of shoujo ai, feel free to ignore them if you wish.

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Exhaustion had begun to set in among the troop after a high-speed pact with the Summon Spirit of Wind and no one was particularly looking forward to flying back up to the valley to revive the Linkite tree after such a grueling battle. The fact that Slyph had turned out to be not one, but three different entities fused into one powerful force was nothing short of surprising and made for one tough clash. No one had even bothered to argue when the group unanimously decided to stop at Hima and rest that day before attempting their complex gambit to summon Aska.

Everyone had gone their separate ways for the night, splitting into the tiny mountaintop settlement to relax in their own ways, the exception being Lloyd, who passed out in the inn almost instantly. Presea herself had chosen to climb the peak for her own brand of peace and quiet, which wasn't easy in of itself because of the fact that the young half-elf mage that liked to trail after her almost anywhere she went.

It wasn't that she didn't think that Genis was a good friend and a valuable companion; it was simply that she wasn't sure how he'd handle the truth. She was well over twice his age and quite honestly, Presea began to see him in an almost little brother type of way, and she was sure that would only disappoint him. Presea was not twelve years old, but approximately twenty-eight. What could she possibly say?

The faux young girl sighed quietly, her hands turning a small, wooden instrument they were building for the summoning of Aska. In reality, the musical tool was nearly completed already, and they were just a few finishing touches to make before it could actually be used. Lloyd was the one who did most of the work—he could craft things extraordinarily fast when he really put his mind to it—and Presea had taken over the project the moment he fell asleep, taking it to the top of the peak with a small carving knife clutched between her fingers. The roughly hewn surfaces began to smooth and become pristine under her experienced hand, small showers of tiny wood chips falling into Presea's lap as she worked. Crafting was surprisingly therapeutic for her; the easiest way to forget the constantly nagging worries in her heart was to build something with those too-small hands, to create for the sake of someone else.

No, she was doing this for herself.

Pretending that she was noble was nothing but a waste of time.

She was nothing like Lloyd, who could stubbornly believe that he could make everyone happy in the end by following the path of what he thought was right. Nor was she anything like Collette, so filled with selfless hope that she could take the burden of an entire pair of worlds on her shoulders with a sacrifice. Without really noticing, Presea dropped the little tool and nearly project from her unmoving hands, staring blankly over the dark skies over Hima and the foreboding shadow of the Tower of Salvation stretching endlessly into the sky above her. She felt distant and colder than any human being should be, even after the Key Crest had been fashioned for her that day, had anything significant changed?

"Oh, here you are!" Presea jerked as a familiar voice reached her ears and turned slowly to catch the sight of white and yellow, Collette's pale priestess outfit painting a sharp contrast to the darkness surrounding her. It was impossible to dislike her, as the girl inevitably put a smile on the face of anyone who knew her for any length of time. As a matter of fact, it was thanks to Collette that Presea had let loose her first real smile in so many long years, and the act of it surprised her as well.

"Collette?" The implied question hung in the air with words lacking much substance, and the pink-haired faux-child watched as the Chosen of Regeneration seated herself nearby without immediately answering. Her long hair was like full, golden wheat. A more vain woman would have killed for such hair.

"I've been going around checking up on everyone before tomorrow!" The happiness and goodwill in her voice was so sincere it hurt, "You're the only one I haven't gotten to talk to yet. Well, you and Lloyd, but he's already sleeping." The teenage girl giggled a little bit into her hands, no doubt remembering some fond memory involving her childhood friend that Presea probably had no place in. "Anyway, what are you doing all the way up here by yourself? It's late and already getting pretty cold out... Heheh...I actually still remember back when I couldn't even tell the difference..."

Presea paused then, because Collette could _understand. _ She really did _know _what it was like to be numb. To be empty of everything... and she had recovered, and grown something new and wonderful from the experience: a future for herself. "I want to be more like you, Collette," The words flew from her unbidden and the blonde looked at her with a confusion slowly fading into her usual kind gaze, "I don't want to feel so empty. I want...a light like yours." If Presea's soul could be compared to a stone, she was certain it would be dull and grey, while Collette would undoubtedly be a shining diamond.

"Presea..." The girl was silent for a moment, before she suddenly grasped the pink-haired girl's palms and clasping them tightly. Her hands were so warm. It was comforting in a strange way that the axe-wielder could not fully understand. "But you already have one deep inside, I know it. It was the fire that saved me at that dragon's nest, I saw it!" Presea was both shocked and unwittingly happy, feeling strange warmth creeping into the tightly held fingers.

"Thank you, Collette..."

Collette Brunel could bring out the spark in anyone, even her.

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(A/N): I found this one kinda weird, but easy enough to write.


End file.
